It has been a record-smashing year for The Bright Agency. Not only have we celebrated major artist successes at every turn and acquired stunning new talent, we've also launched Bright USA and opened an innovative creative gallery space for children called The Bright Emporium.

Here's a closer look at our biggest achievements of 2015...

Opening The Bright Emporium

In November we opened The Bright Emporium, a resource for children and families to grow their love for beautiful picture books and immerse themselves in a multi-sensory experience. We aim to encourage children to discover the world around them through illustration and by making noise, reading aloud, drawing pictures, and meeting and being inspired by artists!

For our launch, we showed the exhibition "Where The Story Began"—as seen at the Barbican to open The Children’s Bookseller Conference this year. Featuring artwork by 10 artists, including Benji Davies, Yasmeen Ismail, and Sue Hendra, each piece on display also shares the inspiration for the artists’ illustrations and highlights how children’s books come to life.

Growing Storytime Sunday

We've always recognized that driving the discoverability of an artist’s work leads to a broader readership and builds the foundations of success.

It was with this belief that we launched Storytime Sunday in December of 2014. Our first illustrators to participate were Nicky O'Byrne, reading the Waterstones Award Winning Open Very Carefully, and Ben Mantle, with his hilarious Rudey's Windy Christmas.

This year, Storytime Sunday moved from the Doodle Bar in London to The Bright Emporium. Dozens of children gather on Sundays to hear Bright authors and illustrators bring beloved picture books to life and to engage in hands-on crafts.

It's been an honor to host David Litchfield, Sue Hendra, Fred Blunt, Julia Patton, and so many other talented illustrators in this ultimate creative space.

The Launch of Bright USA

Over the past ten years, the Bright Group has become well-established in the UK with a high standard of children’s literary excellence. From ideation to inception, execution to promotion, Bright stands by the artists it represents and helps them to grow in a safe and nurturing environment.

This past April, Bright brought its outstanding reputation and method across the pond with the launch of Bright USA in New York City.

In the nine months that Bright USA has been open, we've already seen enormous traction with American clients and have added one-of-a-kind American talent to the Bright roster.

Major Book Launch Events

Benji Davies' Grandad's Island (Simon & Schuster Children's UK) launch party, July 2015.

Fred Blunt's Captain Falsebeard, (Puffin) launched aboard the Golden Hinde in July 2015.

Waterstones Piccadilly hosted the launch party for Yasmeen Ismail's I'm a Girl! (Bloomsbury Children's) in August 2015.

Frances Lincoln Books hosted the launch of David Litchfield's The Bear and the Piano at Hatchard's in St. Pancras Station in September 2015.

Awards & Recognition

More Exciting News

In a joint venture with Vamonos, Bright is excited to be developing Yasmeen Ismail’s unique style for TV. Her beloved characters from the successful Specs for Rex will be brought onto the small screen, continuing Bright’s position in building the brands of some of today’s best illustrators.

Wanda and the Alien, developed by Komixx, brings the successful children’s book series by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet to children’s TV. This year season two aired on Milkshake, a popular primetime TV show for children in the UK. 

Bright Educational Agent Lucie Luddington visited US clients for a whirlwind six day tour of six states. Read about her adventures here!

Bright welcomed Amanda Wood, former Managing Director of Templar, as Board Chairwoman; and Richard Scrivener, Founder and MD of The Creative Rights Agency, as Non-Exec Board Director.

We are excited to announce the development of a second generation Sparklebox, Bright's bespoke internal project management system. This new release of Sparklebox allows us to track royalties, rights, publication dates, artwork, and more. It also streamlines the invoicing process, helping our accounts department to be as efficient as possible.

We couldn't have achieved such great success without our incredibly talented artists and trailblazing clients.

Thank you for a stellar 2015. We can't wait to continue creating innovative, award-winning titles with you in 2016!

—The Bright Agency